प्रकरण 8 सुधारक आणि त्यांचे भवितव्य

Reformers and Their Fate This is a typed bound copy consisting of 87 pages. The Ambatta Sutta starts at page 69 of the manuscript and after page 70, pages are numbered from A to Z. The beginning of page 71 starts with Lohikka Sutta. —Editors.

I. Aryan Society. II. Buddha and Reform. III.

I It was Sir T. Madhava Raw who speaking of Hindu Society of his time said:

“The longer one lives, observes, and thinks, the more deeply does he feel that there is no community on the face of the earth which suffers less from political evils and more from self-inflicted or self-accepted or self-created, and therefore avoidable evils, than the Hindu Community.” This view expresses quite accurately and without exaggeration the necessity of social reform in Hindu Society.

The first Social Reformer and the greatest of them all is Gautama Buddha. Any history of Social Reform must begin with him and no history of Social Reform in India will be complete which omits to take account of his great achievements.

Siddhartha, surname Gautama, was born in the Sakya clan at Kapilvastu in Northern India, on the borders of Nepal in 563 B.C. Tradition says he was a prince. He received education fit for a prince, was married and had a son. Oppressed by the evils and misery then prevalent in the Aryan Society he renounced the world at the age of twenty-nine and left his home in search for truth and deliverance. He became a mendicant and studied with two distinguished teachers, but finding that their teachings did not satisfy him he left them and became an ascetic. He gave up that also as being futile. By hard thinking he got insight into things and as a result of this insight he formulated his own

Dhamma. This was at the age of thirty-five. The remainder of his eighty years he spent in spreading his Dhamma and founding and administering an order of monks. He died about the year 483 B.C. at Kusinara surrounded by his devoted followers. To the carrying out of his mission, the Buddha devoted all his days after the achievement of enlightment. His time was divided between feeding the lamp of his own spiritual life by solitary meditation— just as Jesus spent hours in lonely prayer—and active preaching to large audiences of his monks, instructing the more advanced in the subtle points of inner development, directing the affairs of the Order, rebuking breaches of discipline, confirming the faithful in their virtue, receiving deputations, carrying on discussions with learned opponents, comforting the sorrowful, visiting kings and peasants, Brahmins and outcasts, rich and poor. He was a friend of publicans and sinners, and many a public harlot, finding herself understood and pitied, gave up her evil ways to take refuge in the “Blessed One” Such a life demanded a variety of moral qualities and social gifts, and among others a combination of democratic sentiments with an aristocratic Savoir Faire which is seldom met with. In reading the dialogues one can never forget that Gotama had the birth and upbringing of an aristocrat. He converses not only with Brahmins and pundits but with princes and ministers and kings on easy and equal terms. He is a good diner-out, with a fund of anecdotes and apparently a real sense of humour, and is a welcome quest at every house. A distinguished Brahmin is pictured as describing him thus:

‘The venerable Gotama is well born on both sides, of pure descent…… is handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence, stately to behold, virtuous with the virtue of the Arhats, gifted with goodness and virtue and with a pleasant voice and polite address, with no passion of lust left in him nor any fickleness of mind. He bids all men welcome, is congenial, conciliatory, not supercillious, accessible to all, not backward in conversation.’

But what appealed most to the India of his time, and has appealed most to India through the ages, is expressed by the Brahmin in these words:

“The monk Gotama has gone forth into the religious life, giving up the great clan of his relatives, giving up much money and gold, treasure both buried and above ground. Truly while he was still a young man, without a gray hair on his head, in the beauty of his early manhood he went forth from the household life into the homeless state.”

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“Such a life as his, demanded not only pleasant manners, sympathy and kindness, but firmness and courage. When the occasion required it, he could be calmly severe with those who worked evil for the Order. Physical pain, he bore not only with equanimity but with no diminution of his inner joy. Courage also was needed and was found; as, for example, in the Buddha’s calm attitude during Devadatta’s various attempts to assassinate him, in facing threats of murder, and in the conversion of the famous bandit in the Kingdom of Kosala, whom all the countryside feared, and whom the Buddha visited, alone and unarmed, in his lair, changing him from a scourge of the kindom to a peaceful member of the Order. Neither pain, danger, nor insults marred his spiritual peace. When he was reviled he reviled not again. Nor was he lacking in tender thoughtfulness for those who needed his comfort and support.”

He was beloved of all. Repeatedly he is described or describes himself, as one born into the world for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, for the advantage, the good, the happiness of gods and men, out of compassion for the world.

He left an indelible mark on the Aryan Society and although his name has gone out of India the impression of his teaching still remains. His religion spread like wild fire. It soon became the religion of the whole of India. But it did not remain confined to India. It reached every corner of the then known world. All races accepted it. Even the Afghans were once Buddhists. It did not remain confined to Asia. There is evidence to show that Buddhism was the religion of Celtic Britain.* What was the cause of this rapid spread of Buddhism ?On this point what Prof. Hopkins has said is worth quoting. This is what he says: “The cause, then, of the rapid spread of Buddhism at the beginning of its career lies only in the conditions of its teaching and the influential backing of its founder. It was the individual Buddha that captivated men; it was the teaching that emanated from him that fired enthusiasm; it was his position as an aristocrat that made him acceptable to the aristocracy, his magnetism that made him the idol of the people. From every page stands out the strong, attractive personality of this teacher and winner of hearts. No man ever lived so godless yet so godlike. Arrogating to himself no divinity, despairing of future bliss, but without fear as without hope, leader of thought but despising lovingly the folly of the world, exalted but

* Dr. Donald A. Mackenzie. ‘Buddhism in Pre-Christian Britain. Blackie & Son. London. 1928.—Editors

adored, the universal brother, he wandered among men, simply, serenely; with gentle irony subduing them that opposed him, to congregation after congretation speaking with majestic sweetness, the master to each, the friend of all. His voice was singularly vibrant and eloquent; his very tones convinced the hearer, his looks inspired awe. From the tradition it appears that he must have been one of those whose personality alone suffices to make a man not only a leader but a god to the hearts of his fellows. When such a one speaks he obtains hearers. It matters little what he says, for he influences the motions, and bends whoever listens to his will. But if added to this personality, if encompassing it, there be the feeling in the minds of others that what this man teaches is not only a variety, but the very hope of their salvation; if for the first time they recognize in his words the truth that makes of slaves free men, of classes a brotherhood, then it is not difficult to see wherein lies the lightninglike speed with which the electric current passes from heart to heart. Such a man was Buddha, such was the essential of his teaching; and such was the inevitable rapidity of Buddhistic expansion and the profound influence of the shock that was produced by the new faith upon the moral consciousness of Buddha’s people.” To understand the great reform which he brought about by his teaching, it is necessary to have some idea of the degraded condition of the Aryan civilization at the time when Buddha started on the mission of his life.

The Aryan Community of his time was steeped in the worst kind of debauchery: social, religious and spiritual.

To mention only a few of the social evils, attention may be drawn to gambling. Gambling had become as widespread among the Aryans as drinking.

Every king had a hall of gambling attached to his palace. Every king had an expert gambler in his employment as a companion to play with. King Viral had in his employment Kank as an expert gambler. Gambling was not merely a pastime with kings. They played with heavy stakes. They staked kingdoms, dependents, relatives, slaves, servants.1 King Nala staked everything in gambling with Paskkar and lost everything. The only thing he did not stake was himself and his wife Damayanti. Nala had to go and live in the forest as a beggar. There were kings who went beyond Nala. The Mahabharat 2 tells how Dharma the eldest of the Pandavas gambled and staked everything. 1Mahabharat—Vanparva.

2 Ibid-Sabhaparva

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his brothers and also his and their wife Draupadi. Gambling was a matter of honour with the Aryans and any invitation to gamble was regraded as an injury to one’s honour and dignity. Dharma gambled with such disastrous consequences although he was warned beforehand. His excuse was that he was invited to gamble and that as a man of honour he could not decline such an invitation.

This vice of gambling was not confined to kings. It had infected even the common folk. Rig-Veda contains lamentations of a poor Aryan ruined by gambling. The habit of gambling had become so common in Kautilya’s time that there were gambling houses licensed by the king from which the king derived considerable revenue.

Drinking was another evil which was rampant among the Aryans. Liquors were of two sorts Soma and Sura. Soma was a sacrificial wine. The drinking of the Soma was in the beginning permitted only to Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. Subsequently it was permitted only to Brahmins and Kshatriyas. The Vaishyas were excluded from it and the Shudras were never permitted to taste it. Its manufacture was a secret known only to the Brahmins. Sura was open to all and was drunk by all. The Brahmins also drank Sura. Shukracharya1 the priest to the Asuras drank so heavily that in his drunken state he gave the life-giving Mantras— known to him only and with which he used to revive the Asuras killed by the Devas—to Katch the son of Brahaspati who was the priest of the Devas. The Mahabharat mentions an occasion when both Krishna and Arjuna were dead drunk. That shows that the best among the Aryan Society were not only not free from the drink habit but that they drank heavily. The most shameful part of it was that even the Aryan women were addicted to drink. For instance Sudeshna2 the wife of king Virat tells her maid Sairandhri to go to Kichaka’s palace and bring Sura as she was dying to have a drink. It is not to be supposed that only queens indulged in drinking. The habit of drinking was common among women of all classes and even Brahmin women were not free from it. 3 That liquor and dancing was indulged in by the Aryan women is clear from the Kausitaki Grihya Sutra I. 11-12, which says, “Four or eight women who are not widowed after having been regaled with wine and food are to dance for four times on the night previous to the wedding ceremony.” 1 Mahabharat.

2 Ibid. Viratparva Ad. XV. 10.

3 That the drinking of intoxicating liquor was indulged in by Brahmin women, not to speak of women of the lower Varnas, as late as the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. in the Central region of Aryavarta, is clear from Kumarita Bhatta’s Tantra-Vartika I (iii). 4, which states. “Among the people of modern days we find the Brahmin women of the countries of Ahicchatra and Mathura to be addicted to drinking.” Kumarila condemned the practice in the case of Brahmins only, but not of Kshatriyas and Vaishyas men and women if the liquor was distilled from fruits or flowers (Madhavi), and Molasses (Gaudi) and not from grains (Sura).

Turning to the Aryan Society it was marked by class war and class degradation. The Aryan Society recognized four classes, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. These divisions were not merely horizontal divisions, all on a par with each other in the matter of social relationship. These divisions, had become vertical, one above the other. Being placed above or below there was both jealousy and rivalry among the four classes. This jealousy and rivalry had given rise even to enmity. This enmity was particularly noticeable between the two highest classes, namely, the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas and there was a regular class war between the two, so intense that it would delight the heart of any Marxian to read the descriptions thereof. Unfortunately there is no detailed history of this class war between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. Only a few instances have been recorded. Vena, Pururavas, Nahusha, Sudas, Sumukh and Nimi were some of the Kshatriya kings who came into the conflict with the Brahmins. The issues in these conflicts were different. The issue between Vena and the Brahmins was whether a King could command and require the Brahmins to worship him and offer sacrifice to him instead of the Gods. The issue between Pururavas and the Brahmins was whether a Kshatriya King could confiscate the property of the Brahmin. The issue between Nahusha and the Brahmins was whether a Kshatriya king could order a Brahmin to do a servile job. The issue between Nimi and the Brahmins was whether the king was bound to employ only his family priest at the sacrificial ceremony. The issue between Sudas and the Brahmins was whether the king was bound to employ only a Brahmin as a priest.

This shows how big were the issues between the two classes. No wonder that the struggle between them was also the bitterest. The wars between them were not merely occasional riots. They were wars of extermination. It is stated that Parashuram a Brahmin fought against the Kshatriyas twenty-one times and killed every Kshatriya.

While the two classes were fighting among themselves for supremacy, they both combined to keep down the Vaishyas and the Shudras. The Vaishya was a milch cow. He lived only to pay taxes. The Shudra was a general beast of burden. These two classes existed for the sole purpose of making the life of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas glorious and happy. They had no right to live for themselves. They lived to make the life of their betters possible.

Below these two classes there were others. They were the Chandalas and Shwappakas. They were not untouchables but they were degraded. They were outside the pale of society and outside the pale of law. They had no rights and no opportunities. They were the rejects of the Aryan Society.

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The sexual immorality of the Aryan Society must shock their present day descendants. The Aryans of pre-Buddhist days had no such rule of prohibited degrees as we have today to govern their sexual or matrimonial relationship.

According to the Aryan Mythology, Brahma is the creator. Brahma had three sons and a daughter. His one son Daksha married his sister. The daughters born of this marriage between brother and sister were married some to Kashyapa the son of Marichi the son of Brahma and some to Dharma the third son of Brahma. 1 In the Rig-Veda there is an episode related of Yama and Yami brother and sister. According to this episode Yami the sister invites her brother Yama to cohabit with her and becomes angry when he refuses to do so. 2 A father could marry his daughter. Vashishta married his own daughter Shatrupa when she came of age.3 Manu married his daughter Ila4 Janhu married his daughter Janhavi.5 Surya married his daughter Usha.6 There was polyandri not of the ordinary type. The polyandri prevalent among the Aryans was a polyandri when Kinsmen cohabited with one woman. Dhahaprachetani and his son Soma cohabited with Marisha the daughter of Soma.7 Instances of grandfather marrying his grand-daughter are not wanting. Daksha gave his daughter in marriage to his father Brahma 8 and from that marriage was born the famous Narada. Dauhitra gave his 27 daughters to his father Soma for cohabitation and procreation. 9 The Aryans did not mind cohabiting with women in the open and within sight of people. The Rishis used to perform certain religious rites which were called Vamdevya vrata. These rites used to be performed on the Yadnya Bhumi. If any woman came there and expressed a desire for sexual intercourse and asked the sage to satisfy her, the sage used to cohabit with her then and there in the open on the Yadnya Bhumi. Instances of this may be mentioned; the case of the sage Parashara who had sexual intercourse with Satyavati and also of Dirghatapa. That such a custom was common is shown by the existence of the word Ayoni. The word Ayoni is understood to mean of immaculate conception. That is not however the original meaning of the word. The original meaning of the word Yoni is house. Ayoni 1 Mahabharata Adiparva. Adh. 66.

2 Rig Veda.

3 Harivansha Adh. II..

4 Ibid Adh. X.

5 Ibid Adh. XXVII.

6 Yask Nirukta Adh. V. Khanda VI.

7 Harivansha Adh. II.

8 Harivansha Adh. III.

9 Ibid,

means conceived out of the house i.e. in the open. That there was nothing deemed to be wrong in this is clear from the fact that both Sita and Draupadi were Ayonija. That this was very common is clear from the fact that religious injunctions had to be issued against such a practice. 1 There was prevalent among the Aryans the practice of renting out their women to others for a time. As art illustration may be mentioned the story of Madhavi2 The king Yayati gave his daughter Madhavi as an offering to his guru Galav. Galav rented out the girl Madhavi to three kings each a period. Thereafter he gave her in marriage to Vishwamitra. She remained with him until a son was born to her. Thereafter Galav took away the girl and gave her back to her father Yayati. Besides the practice of letting out women to others temporarily at a rent, there was prevalent among the Aryans another practice namely, allowing procreation by the best amongst them. Raising a family was treated by them as though it was a breeding or stock raising. Among the Aryas there was a class of persons called Devas who were Aryans but of a superior status and prowess. The Aryans allowed their women to have sexual intercourse with any one of the class of Devas in the inerest of good breeding. This practice prevailed so extensively that the Devas came to regard prelibation in respect of the Aryan women as their prescriptive right. No Aryan woman could be married unless this right of prelibation had been redeemed and the woman released from the control of the Devas by offering what was technically called Avadan. The Laja Hoame which is performed in every Hindu marriage and the details of which are given in the Ashwalayan Grahya Sutra is a relic of this act of the redemption of the Aryan woman from the right of prelibation of the Devas. The Avadan in the Laja Hoame is nothing but the price for the extinguishment of the right of the Devas over the bride. The Saptapadi performed in all Hindu marriages and which is regarded as the most essential ceremony without which there is no lawful marriage has an integral connection with this right of prelibation of the Devas. Saptapadi means walking by the bridegroom seven steps with the bride. Why is this essential ? The answer is that the Devas if they were dissatisfied with the compensation could claim the woman before the seventh step was taken. After the seventh step was taken, the right of the Devas was extinguished and the bridegroom could take away the bride and live as husband and wife without being obstructed or molested by the Devas.

1 Mahabharat Adi Parva—Add. 193.

2 Mahabharat Udyoga parva. Adh. 106-123.

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There was no rule of chastity for maidens. A girl could have sexual intercourse with and also progeny from anybody without contracting marriage. This is evident from the root meaning of the word Kanya which means a girl. Kanya comes from the root Kam which means a girl free to offer herself to any man. That they did offer themselves to any man and had children without contracting regular marriage is illustrated by the case of Kunti and Matsyagandha. Kunti had children from different men before she was married to Pandu and Matsyagandha had sexual intercourse with the sage Parashara before she was married to Shantanu the father of Bhishma.

Beastiality was also prevalent among the Aryans. The story of the sage Dam having sexual intercourse with a female deer 1 is well known. Another instance is that of Surya cohabiting with a mare 2. But the most hideous instance is that of the woman having sexual intercourse with the horse in the Ashvamedha Yadna.

The religion of the Aryan consisted of the Yadna or sacrifice. The sacrifice was a means to enter into the godhead of the gods, and even to control the gods. The traditional sacrifices were twenty one in number divided into three classes of seven each. The first were sacrifices of butter, milk, corn, etc. The second class covered Soma sacrifices and third animal sacrifices. The sacrifice may be of short duration or long duration lasting for a year or more. The latter was called a Sattra. The argument in favour of the sacrifice is that eternal holiness is won by him that offers the sacrifice. Not only a man’s self but also his Manes stood to benefit by means of sacrifice. He gives the Manes pleasure with his offering, but he also raises their estate, and sends them up to live in a higher world. 3 The sacrifice was by no means meant as an aid to the acquirement of heavenly bliss alone. Many of the great sacrifices were for the gaining of good things on earth. That one should sacrifice without the ulterior motive of gain is unknown. Brahmanic India knew no thank offering. Ordinarily the gain is represented as a compensating gift from the divinity, whom they sacrifice. The sacrifice began with the recitation: “He offers the sacrifice to the god with this text: ‘Do thou give to me (and) I (will) give to thee; do thou bestow on me (and) I (will) bestow on thee’.” The ceremony of the sacrifice was awe-inspiring. Every word was pregnant with consequences and even the pronunciation of the word or accent was fateful. There are indications, however, that the priest themselves understood that, much in the ceremonial was pure hocuspocus, and not of much importance as it was made out to be. 1 Mahabharat Adhyaya 1-118.

2 Ibid. Adhyaya 66.

3 This is taken from Hopkins—The Religions of India.

Every sacrifice meant fee to the priest. As to fee, the rules were precise and their propounders were unblushing. The priest performed the sacrifice for the fee alone, and it must consist of valuable garments, kine, horses or gold—when each was to be given was carefully stated. The priests had built up a great complex of forms, where at every turn fees were demanded. The whole expense, falling on one individual for whose benefit the sacrifice was performed, must have been enormous. How costly the whole thing became can be seen from the fact that in one place the fee for the sacrifice is mentioned as one thousand cows. For this greed, which went so far that he proclaimed that he who gives a thousand cows obtains all things of heaven. The priest had a good precedent to cite, for, the gods of heaven, in all tales told of them, ever demand a reward from each other when they help their neighbour gods. If the Gods seek rewards, the priest has a right to do the same. The principal sacrifice was the animal sacrifice. It was both costly and barbaric. In the Aryan religion there are five sacrificial animals mentioned. In this list of sacrificial animals man came first. The sacrifice of a man was the costliest. The rules of sacrifice required that the individual to be slaughtered must be neither a priest nor a slave. He must be a Kshatriya or Vaishya. According to the ordinary valuation of those times the cost of buying a man to be sacrificed was one thousand cows. Besides being costly and barbaric, it must have been revolting because the sacrificers had not only to kill the man but to eat him. Next to man came the horse. That also was a costly sacrifice because the horse was a rare and a necessary animal for the Aryans in their conquest of India. The Aryans could hardly afford such a potent instrument of military domination to be offered as sacrifice. The sacrifice must have been revolting in as much as one of the rituals in the horse-sacrifice was the copulation of the horse before it was slaughtered with the wife of the sacrificer. The animals most commonly offered for sacrifice were of course the cattle which were used by the people for their agricultural purposes. They were mostly cows and bullocks.

The Yadnas were costly and they would have died out of sheer considerations of expense involved. But they did not. The reason is that the stoppage of Yadna involved the question of the loss of the Brahmin’s fees. There could be no fees if the Yadna ceased to be performed and the Brahmin would starve. The Brahmin therefore found a substitute for the costly sacrificial animals. For a human sacrifice the Brahmin allowed as a substitute for a live man, a man of straw or metal or earth. But they did not altogether give up human sacrifice for fear that this Yadna might be stopped and they should

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lose their fees. When human sacrifice became rare, animal sacrifice came in as a substitute. Animal sacrifice was also a question of expense to the laity. Here again rather than allow the sacrifice to go out of vogue, the Brahmins came forward with smaller animals for cattle just as cattle had been allowed to take the place of the man and the horse. All this was for the purpose of maintaining the Yadna so that the Brahmin did not lose his fees which was his maintenance. So set were the Brahmins on the continuance of the Yadna that they were satisfied with merely rice as an offering.

It must not however be supposed that the institution of substitutes of the Yadnas of the Aryans had become less horrid. The introduction of substitutes did not work as a complete replacement of the more expensive and more ghastly sacrifice by the less expensive and the more innocent. All that it meant was that the offering may be according to the capacity of the sacrificer. If he was poor his offering may be rice. If he was well to do it might be a goat. If he was rich it might be a man, horse, cow or a bull. The effect of the subsitutes was that the Yadna was brought within the capacity of all so that the Brahmin reaped a larger harvest of feast on the total. It did not have the effect of stopping animal sacrifice. Indeed animals continued to be sacrificed by the thousands. The Yadna often became a regular carnage of cattle at which the Brahmins did the work of butchers. One gets some idea of the extent of this carnage of innocent animals from references to the Yadnas which one comes across in Buddhist literature. In the Suttanipat a description is given of the Yadna that was arranged to be performed by Pasenadi, king of Kosala. It is stated that there were tied to the poles for slaughter at the Yadna five hundred oxen, five hundred bulls, five hundred cows, five hundred goats and five hundred lambs and that the servents of the king who were detailed to do the jobs according to the orders given to them by the officiating Brahmin priests were doing their duties with tears in their eyes.

The Yadna besides involving a terrible carnage was really a kind of carnival. Besides roast meet there was drink. The Brahmins had Soma as well as Sura. The others had Sura in abundance. Almost every Yadna was followed by gambling and what is most extraordinary is that, side by side there went on also sexual intercourse in the open. Yadna had become debauchery and there was no religion left in it. The Aryan religion was just a series of observances. Behind these observances there was no yearning for a good and a virtuous life. There was no hunger or thirst for rightousness. Their religion was without any spiritual content. The hymns of the Rig Veda furnish very

good evidence of the absence of any spiritual basis for the Aryan religion. The hymns are prayers addressed by the Aryans to their gods. What do they ask for in these prayers ? Do they ask to be kept away from temptation ? Do they ask for deliverance from evil ? Do they ask for forgiveness of sins? Most of the hymns are in praise of Indra. They praise him for having brought destruction to the enemies of the Aryans. They praise him because he killed all the pregnant wives of Krishna, an Asura. They praise him because he destroyed hundreds of villages of the Asuras. They praise him because he killed lakhs of Dasyus. The Aryans pray to Indra to carry on greater destruction among the Anaryas in the hope that they may secure to themselves the food supplies of the Anaryas and the wealth of the Anaryas. Far from being spiritual and elevating, the hymns of the Rig-Veda are saturated with wicked thoughts and wicked purposes. The Aryan religion never concerned itself with what is called a righteous life.

II Such was the state of the Aryan Society when Buddha was born. There are two pertinent questions regarding Buddha as a reformer who laboured to reform the Aryan Society. What were the chief planks in his reform ? To what extent did he succeed in his reform movement ? To take up the first question.

Buddha felt that for the inculcation of a good and a pure life, example was better than precept. The most important thing he did was to lead a good and a pure life so that it might serve as a model to all. How unblemished a life he led can be gathered from the Brahma-Jala Sutta. It is reproduced below because it not only gives an idea of the pure life that Buddha led but it also gives an idea of how impure a life the Brahmins, the best among the Aryans led.

Brahma Jala Sutta

1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One was once going along the high road between Rajagaha and Nalanda with a great company of the brethren with about five hundred brethren. And Suppiya the mendicant too was going along the high road between Rajagaha and Nalanda with his disciple the young Brahmadatta. Now just then Suppiya the mendicant was speaking in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, in dispraise of the Doctrine, in dispraise of the Order. But young Brahmadatta, his pupil, gave utterance, in many ways, to praise of the Buddha, to praise of the Doctrine, to praise of the Order. Thus they two, teacher and pupil, holding opinions in direct contradiction of one to the other, were following, step by step, after the Bleased one and the company of the brethren.

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2. Now the Blessed one put up at the royal rest-house in the Ambalatthika pleasance to pass the night, and with him the company of the brethren. And so also did Suppiya the mendicant, and with him his young disciple Brahmadatta. And there, at the rest-houses, these two carried on the same discussion as before.

3. And in the early dawn a number of the brethren assembled as they rose up, in the pavilion; and this was the trend of the talk that sprang up among them, as they were seated there. ‘How wonderful a thing is it, brethren, and how strange that the Blessed One, he who knows and sees, the Arahat, the Buddha Supreme, should so clearly have perceived how various are the inclination of men! For see how while Suppiya the mendicant speaks in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order, his own disciple, young Brahmadatta, speaks, in as many ways, in praise of them. So do these two, teacher and pupil, follow step by step after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren, giving utterance to views in direct contradiction of one to the other.

4. Now the Blessed One, on realising what was the drift of their talk, went to the pavilion, and took his seat on the mat spread out for him. And when he had sat down he said: “What is the talk on which you are engaged sitting here, and what is the subject of the conversation between you ?” And they told him all. And he said:

5. Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me, or against the Doctrine, or against the Order, you should not on that account either bear malice, or suffer heart-burning, or feel ill-will. If you, on that account, should be angry and hurt, that would stand in the way of your own self-conquest. If, when others speak against us, you feel angry at that, and displeased, would you then be able to judge how far that speach of theirs is well said or ill?

‘That would not be so, Sir.’

‘But when outsiders speak in dispraise of me, or of the Doctrine, or. of the Order, you should unravel what is false and point it out as wrong, saying: “For this or that reason this is not the fact, that is not so, such a thing is not found among us, is not in us.”

6. But also, brethren, if outsiders should speak in praise of me, in praise of the Doctrine, in praise of the Order, you should not, on that account, be filled with pleasure or gladness, or be lifted up in heart. Were you to be so that also would stand in the way of your self-conquest. When outsiders speak in praise of me, or of the Doctrine, or of the Order, you should acknowledge what is right to be the fact, saying: “For this or that reason this is the fact, that is so, such a thing is found among us, is in us.”

7. It is in respect only of trifling things, of matters of little value, of mere morality, that an unconverted man. when praising the Tathagata, would speak. And what are such trifling, minor details of mere morality that he would praise?

(4) (The Moralities. Part I).

8. “Putting away the killings of living things, Gotama the recluse holds aloof from the destruction of life. He has laid the cudgel and the sword aside, and ashamed of roughness, and full of mercy, he dwells compassionate and kind to all creatures that have life.” It is thus that the unconverted man, when speaking in praise of the Tathagata, might speak.

Or he might say: “Putting away the taking of what has not been given, Gotama the recluse lived aloof from grasping what is not his own. He takes only what is given, and expecting that gifts will come, he passes his life in honesty and purity of heart.”

Or he might say: “Putting away unchastity, Gotama the recluse is chaste. He holds himself aloof, far off, from the vulgar practice, from the sexual act.”

9. Or he might say: “Putting away lying words, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from falsehood. He speaks truth from the truth he never swerves; faithful and trustworthy, he breaks not his word to the world”.

Or he might say: “Putting away slander, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from calumny. What he hears here he repeats not elsewhere to raise a quarrel against the people here; what he hears elsewhere he repeats not here to raise a quarrel against the people there. Thus does he live as a binder together of those who are divided, an encourager of those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace, impassioned for peace, a speaker of words that make for peace.”

Or he might say: “Putting away rudeness of speech, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from harsh language. Whatsoever word is blameless, pleasant to the ear, lovely, reaching to the heart, urbane, pleasing to the people, beloved of the people—such are words he speaks.” Or he might say: “Putting away frivolous talk, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from vain conversation. In season he speaks, in accordance with the facts, words full of meaning, on religion, on the discipline of the Order. He speaks, and at the right time, words worthy to be laid up in one’s heart, fitly illustrated, clearly divided, to the point.”

REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE

10. Or he might say: “Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day, not eating at night, refraining from food after hours (after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator at shows at fairs with nautch dances, singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing, adorning, or ornamenting himself with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use of the large and lofty beds. He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bond-women.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle, horses and mare. He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste. He abstains from the acting as a go-between or messenger. He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating with scales or bronzes or measures. He abstains from the crooked ways of bribery, cheating, and fraud. He abstains from maiming, murder, putting in bonds, highway robbery, dacoity, and violence.”

Such are the things, brethren, which an unconverted man, when speaking in praise of the Tathagata might say.

….

Here ends the Kula Sila (the Short Paragraphs on Conduct). …..

11. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the injury of seedlings and growing plants whether propagated from roots or cuttings or joints or buddings or seeds—Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such injury to seedlings and growing plants.”

12. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of the things stored up; stores, to wit, of foods, drinks, clothing, equipages, bedding, perfumes, and curry-stuffs—Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such use of things stored up.”

13. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to visiting shows; that is to say,

(1) Nautch dances (nakkam), (2) Singings of songs (gitam)

(3) Instrumental music (vaditam)

(4) Shows at fairs (pekham)

(5) Ballads recitations (akkhanam)

(6) Hand music (paniseram)

(7) The chanting of bards (vetala)

(8) Tam-tam playing (kumbhathunam)

(9) Fair scences (sobhanagarkam)

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kandalas (Kandala-vamsa-dhopanam) (11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks and quails.

(12) Bouts at quarterstaff, boxing, wrestling.

(13)-(16) Sham-fights, roll-calls, manoeuvres, reviews. Gotama the recluse holds aloof from visiting such shows.”

14. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations; that is to say, (1) Games on boards with eight, or with ten, rows of squares. (2) The same games played by imagining such boards in the air. (3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn’ on the ground so that one steps only where one ought to go.

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap with one’s nail, or putting them into a heap, in each case without shaking it. He who shakes the heap, loses.

(5) Throwing dice.

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one.

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out in lac, or red dye, or flour water, and striking the wet hand on the ground or on a wall, calling out ‘What shall it be?’ and showing the form requires—elephants, horses etc., (8) Games with balls.

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves.

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs.

(11) Turning summersaults.

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm leaves. (13) Playing with toy measures made of palm leaves. (14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows.

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a playfellow’s back. (17) Guessing the playfellow’s thoughts.

(18) Mimicry of deformities.

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such games and recreations.”

REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE

15. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of high and large couches; that is to say, (1) Moveable settees, high, and six feet long (Asandi). (2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko). (3) Goats’ hair coverings with very long fleece (Ganako). (4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Kittaka). (5) White blankets (Patika).

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Patalika). (7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wood (Tulika).

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, &c, (Vikatika). (9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomi).

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomi).

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Katthissam).

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyam).

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakam). (14-16) Elephant, horse, and chariot rugs.

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Aginapaveni). (18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope.

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttarakkhadam). (20) Sofas with red pillows for the head and feet. “

16. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of means for adorning and beautifying themselves: that is to say: Rubbing in scented powders on one’s body, shampooing it, and bathing it. Patting the limbs with clubs after the manner of wrestlers. The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands, rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces, walking-sticks, reed cases for drugs, rapiers, sunshades, embroidered slippers, turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak’s tail, and long-fringed white robes. Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.”

17. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state: tales of war, of terrors, of battles; talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes; talks about relationships, equipages, villages, towns, cities, and countries; tales about women, and about heroes; gossip at street corners, or places whence water is fetched; ghost stories; desultory

talk; speculations about the creation of the land or sea, or about existence and non-existence. Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low conversation.

18. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases: such as:

“You don’t understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.” “How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?” “You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.” “I am speaking to the point, you are not.”

“You are putting last what ought to come first, and first what ought to come last.”

“What you’ve excogitated so long, that’s all quite upset.” “Your challenge has been taken up.”

“You are proved to be wrong.”

“Set to work to clear your views.”

“Disentangle yourself if you can.” Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.”

19. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to taking messages, going on errands, and acting as go-betweens; to wit, on kings, ministers of state, Kshatriyas, Brahmans, or young men, saying: ‘Go there, come hither, take this with you, bring that from thence.’ Gotama the recluse abstains from such servile duties.”

20. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, are tricksters, droners out (of holy words for pay), diviners, and exorcists, ever hungering to add gain to gain.

Gotam the recluse holds aloof from such deception and patter.” Here ends the Majjhima Sila (the Longer Paragraphs on Conduct). ........

21. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:

(1) Palmistry—prophesying long life, prosperity, &c, (or the reverse), from marks on a child’s hands, feet, &c.

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs.

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts and other celestial portents. (4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams.

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body.

REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice. (7) Sacrificing to Agni.

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon.

(9-13) Making offerings to gods of husks, of the red powder between the grain and the husk, of husked grain ready for boiling, of ghee and of oil.

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, &c., into the fire out of one’s mouth.

(15) Drawing blood from one’s right knee as a sacrifice to the gods. (16) Looking at the knuckles, &c., and, after muttering a charm, divining whether a man is well born of luck or not.

(17) Determining whether the site, for a proposed house or pleasance, is lucky or not.

(18) Advising on customary law.

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery.

(20) Laying ghosts.

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used when lodging in an earth house.

(22) Snake charming.

(23) The poison craft.

(24) The scorpion craft.

(25) The mouse craft.

(26) The bird craft.

(27) The crow craft.

(28) Foretelling the number of years that a man has yet to live. (29) Giving charms to ward off arrows.

(30) The animal wheel.

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”

22. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:

Knowledge of the signs of good and bad qualities in the following things, and of the marks in them denoting the health or luck of their owners: to wit, gems, staves, garments, swords, arrows, bows, other weapons, women, men, boys, girls, slaves, slave-girls, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, oxen, goats, sheep, fowls, quails, iguanas, herrings, tortoises, and other animals. Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”

23. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by

wrong means of livelihood by low arts, such as soothsaying to the effect that: The chiefs will march out.

The home chiefs will attack, and the enemies retreat. The enemies’ chiefs will attack, and ours will retreat. The home chiefs will gain the victory, and ours will suffer defeat. The foreign chiefs will gain the victory on this side, and ours will suffer defeat.

Thus will there be victory on this side, defeat on that. Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”

24. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) There will be an eclipse of the Moon.

(2) There wilt be an eclipse of the Sun.

(3) There will be an eclipse of a Star (Nakshatra). (4) There will be aberration of the Sun or the Moon. (5) The Sun or the Moon will return to its usual path. (6) There will be aberrations of the Stars.

(7) The Stars will return to their usual course.

(8) There will be a fall of meteors.

(9) There will be a jungle fire.

(10) There will be an earthquake.

(11) The God will thunder.

(12-15) There will be rising and setting, clearness and dimness of the Sun or the Moon or the stars, or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena that they will betoken such and such a result.” Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.

25. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of the livelihood, by low arts, such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall.

Foretelling a deficient rainfall.

Foretelling a good harvest.

Foretelling scarcity of food.

Foretelling tranquility.

Foretelling disturbances.

Foretelling a pestilence.

Foretelling a healthy season.

Counting on the fingers.

Counting without using the fingers.

Summing up large totals.

REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE

Composing ballads, poetizing.

Casuistry, sophistry.

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”

26. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home.

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth.

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace (or using charms to procure harmony)

(4) Fixing a lucky time for the outbreak of hostilities (or using charms to make discord).

(5) Fixing a lucky time for the calling in of debts (or charms for success in throwing dice).

(6) Fixing a lucky time for the expenditure of money (or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice). (7) Using charms to make people lucky.

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky.

(9) Using charms to procure abortion.

(10) Incantations to keep a man’s jaws fixed. (11) Incantations to bring on dumbness.

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands. (13) Incantations to bring on deafness.

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror. (15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed. (16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god.

(17) The worship of the Sun.

(18) The worship of the Great One.

(19) Bringing forth flames from one’s mouth. (20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck.

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”

27. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted. (2) Praying such vows.

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house. (4) Causing virility.

(5) Making a man impotent.

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwellings.

(7) Consecrating sites.

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the mouth.

(9) Ceremonial bathings.

(10) Offering sacrifices.

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives.

(15) Purging people to relieve the head (that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze).

(16) Oiling people’s ears (either to make them grow or to heal sores on them).

(17) Satisfying people’s eyes (soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them).

(18) Administering drugs through the nose.

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes.

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes.

(21) Practising as an oculist.

(22) Practising as a surgeon.

(23) Practising as a doctor for children.

(24) Administering roots and drugs.

(25) Administering medicines in rotation.

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”

‘These brethren, are the trifling matters, the minor details of morality, of which the unconverted man, when praising the Tathagata, might speak.’ …..

Here end the Long Paragraphs on Conduct.

III

This was indeed the highest standard for a moral life for an individual to follow. So high a standard of moral life was quite unknown to the Aryan Society of his day.

He did not stop merely with setting an example by leading a life of purity. He also wanted to mould the character of the ordinary men and women in society. For their guidance he devised a form of baptism which was quite unknown to the Aryan Society. The baptism consisted in the convert to Buddhism undertaking to observe certain moral precepts laid down by Buddha. These precepts are known as Panch Sila or the five precepts. They are; (1) Not to kill, (2) Not to steal, (3) Not to lie, (4) Not to be unchaste and (5) Not to drink intoxicants. These five precepts were of the laity. For the Monks there were five additional precepts: (6) Not to eat at forbidden times, (7) Not to dance, sing, or attend theatrical or other spectacles, (8) To abstain from the use of garlands, scents, and ornaments, (9) To abstain from the use of high or broad beds, and (10) Never to receive money.